Tillerson Finds Out Through Twitter That He's Being Canned as Secretary of State

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.S. President Donald Trump listen as Republicans take turns speaking to the media at Camp David on January 6, 2018 in Thurmont, Maryland. President Trump met with staff, members of his Cabinet and Republican members of Congress to discuss the Republican legislative agenda for 2018. (Photo: Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)

According to a State Department spokesman, Tillerson—who reportedly called the president a "fucking moron" last year—found out he had been fired from Trump's tweet, and was not given a reason for his dismissal.

"The secretary did not speak to the president," Steve Goldstein, State Department undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, said in statement, "but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve."

Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!

One White House official toldCNN that Trump ordered chief of staff John Kelly to call Tillerson last Friday to tell him he was going to be replaced, but the timing of his ouster was not specified.

"This is how the president wanted to do it," the official said, referring to Trump's preference for firing members of his team through Twitter rather than in person.

Pompeo will have to be confirmed by the Senate before he can take Tillerson's spot.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Trump offered a vague explanation for Tillerson's ouster.

"We disagreed on things," Trump said. "When you look at the Iran deal, I think it's terrible. I guess he [unintelligible] it was okay," Trump said. "So we were not really thinking the same. With Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process. I think it's going to go very well."

Watch:

President Trump: "I think Mike Pompeo will be a truly great Secretary of State. I have total confidence in him, and as far as Rex Tillerson is concerned I very much appreciate his commitment and his service and I wish him well." pic.twitter.com/CdvWBQhuvq

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

FRIENDS: Now More Than Ever

Independent journalism has become the last firewall against government and corporate lies. Yet, with frightening regularity, independent media sources are losing funding, closing down or being blacked out by Google and Facebook. Never before has independent media been more endangered. If you believe in Common Dreams, if you believe in people-powered independent media, please support us now and help us fight—with truths—against the lies that would smother our democracy. Please help keep Common Dreams alive and growing. Thank you. -- Craig Brown, Co-founder

Further

Lookit These Kids Redux: Over 200 kids in Pennsylvania who defied their school's ban on joining last week's nationwide walkout transformed their ostensible punishment into Civil Disobedience 101 by turning their detention into a silent, moving sit-in. With the community offering support - and pizza - the #Pennridge 225 linked arms, wore the names of Parkland victims and declared the consequences of their actions "a badge of honor" to show "we’ll stand up for what is right."